Education Commissioner: Work Together for Students

Saturday

Dec 29, 2012 at 12:09 AM

It's no surprise that Tony Bennett, Florida's newly hired education commissioner, would be bullish on testing, vouchers and charter schools, or that the state's largest teacher union would object to his appointment.

It's no surprise that Tony Bennett, Florida's newly hired education commissioner, would be bullish on testing, vouchers and charter schools, or that the state's largest teacher union would object to his appointment.

Given Florida's political makeup, it would have been surprising if this appointment had played out otherwise.

Bennett became suddenly available because he recently lost his seat as elected state school superintendent in Indiana — an outcome that he himself attributes at least partially to union opposition. So there is no reason to expect a management-labor honeymoon period as he takes over in Tallahassee.

But never mind Bennett's personal convictions or his relationship with organized labor.

Let's just hope he brings to the position a more inclusive management style than that of his predecessors.

TOP-DOWN MANAGEMENT

Tallahassee's frequent, and embarrassing, releases of inaccurate student assessment data, flawed teacher assessment scores, skewed school grades and so on is as much a consequence of the Department of Education's top-down management style as anything else.

For the most part, requests from Florida school superintendents for a more collaborative relationship with the Education Department have fallen on deaf ears, with predictable consequences.

Such institutional arrogance, unfortunately, has been the rule rather than the exception for far too long. That's what Bennett should work to reverse.

If Bennett can establish a more productive relationship between the department and the school districts, that would be great progress.

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